Siegfried Sassoon's The Charge Of The Light-Brigade

In the early 19th century as World War One was declared Henry Newbolt was recruited by the head of Britain's War Propaganda Bureau to help shape and maintain public opinion in favour of the war effort. Shortly after ‘Vitai Lampada’ was published. The poem are is the belief that regardless of the situation the ‘Caption’ is to be obayed at all times, and the reward of ‘his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote’ is enough to embarke upon the war. The use of ‘smote’ an old fashioned word along with the belief that regardless of the situation the ‘Caption’ is to be obeyed at all times relates to the archaic and chivalrous attitudes in the early years of the war. Similarly ‘The Charge of the Light-Brigade’ a mid- centurary poem using anaphora to highlight that the solider must not question the orders he’s given; ‘Theirs not to make reply/ Theirs …show more content…
He defies the authorities as he makes a ‘statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority’, he challenges the judgment of his seniors and their ‘political errors and insecurities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.’ He further satirises the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for the ‘aggression’ -fuelled war in his poem ‘The General’. The poem questions the ideas of service and sacrifice as the ‘incompetent swine’ of a General causes his men to become ‘Connon-fire’ with ‘his plan for attack’ that ‘did for’ ‘most of em’ dead’. Sassoon was highly respected by his fellow soldiers and was decorated for bravery on the Western Front. He clearly states that he is ‘a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers.’ and his use of colloquial language makes him even more relatable to the soliders, so his opposition to military authority’ caused dissent within the armed forces towards the patriotic attitudes to